This invention relates to the discovery that certain natural ribonucleic acids form a polymeric shell, called a ribocapsid, around another nucleic acid, forming a biological structure called a nuclion. Transfer RNA (‘tRNA’) molecules form such nuclions when they bind to each other and messenger RNA (‘mRNA’) without the participation of a ribosome. These tRNA nuclions qualify and protect the mRNA, flag translation start codons, ensure frame registration, warehouse charged tRNAs, and accelerate protein synthesis. Abnormal nuclions and ribocapsids may cause several human diseases and disorders. For example, mutations in the tRNA sites which bind adjacent tRNAs in a ribocapsid are associated with cellular transformations implicated in certain types of cancer. Retroviruses such as HIV form tRNA primer structures which mimic legal nuclions, presumably to hijack the host cell's protein synthesis machinery.
The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are in urgent need of new biological targets for the development of novel diagnostic, therapeutic and prophylactic products for the treatment of human diseases and disorders. Several embodiments of this invention directly address this need by providing isolated nuclions for use in pharmaceutical research and development. Nuclions play a key role in all protein synthesis in humans, and, as such, represent prime candidates for medical intervention. Several embodiments define specific nuclion targets for the development of drugs for the treatment of nuclion-mediated diseases and disorders, including but not limited to certain cancers and viral infections. Other embodiments teach methods for the manufacture of isolated nuclions for use by researchers and others in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.